


Lucis After Dawn

by Pookaseraph



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Emotional Constipation, Fix-It, Fluff, Future Fic, Kid Fic, M/M, Messenger!Noctis, Post-Canon, gonna make that a thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-09
Updated: 2017-01-09
Packaged: 2018-09-15 23:17:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9263081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pookaseraph/pseuds/Pookaseraph
Summary: After ten years, Ignis had come to understand what would happen after the Dawn, but in many ways he was still ill-equipped to deal with those consequences.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is the third iteration of this story, it's done, but there's always a chance I might write more in the universe, we'll see.

Ignis's first indication that anything had changed was the slight warmth on his face. As wrapped up in the fighting as he was, he barely recognized it for what it was at all... _light_ , but not the harsh artificial lights of Lestallem, true light, _Light_ , the sun that had been absent for so long trickling through the Starscourge hazed skies. If that indication was subtle to him, the next was not, brilliant heat rampaged through the Crown City, but not burning, scalding heat, just... warmth.

The daemons, however, did not seem to be of the same mind, the inhuman screams of rage and fury turned into howls of pain, and then... blessed silence. For the first time in years, Ignis could hear little more than the sound of his own heartbeat in his ears, followed by the ragged breathing of his companions who were likely far more aware of the visual scene, and likely not as unnerved by the silence...

"Noct?" He asked, not expecting his King, certainly, more a single word to confirm all that must have happened.

"Yeah," Prompto answered, voice far more sedate than he would have expected.

"Looks like the kid came through in the end," Gladio answered. "The True King..."

Ignis felt his eyes squeeze tighter closed against the pain those words shot through him. His ignorance of Lucian history had wrought nothing but pain for himself and the others, and in the ten years Noct had slumbered he had grown his understanding of their situation by leaps and bounds.

It was clear to him that the information was kept from him, not out of malice, but out of some warped sense of kindness, to save Ignis from the knowledge that King Regis and the Lady Lunafreya had doubtless known... Ignis was the shepherd to a sacrificial lamb...

"Let's..." He struggled for his own words. "Survey the final battleground."

Old habits died hard, and he felt the familiar presence of Prompto on his periphery, a wordless hand, a brush of fingers really, settling against his elbow. In the years since Ignis's injury it had transformed from a motherly fretting into just a comforting reminder that Ignis could rely on his friends, as ever.

"Is anyone else a little freaked out that we're... yaknow... alive?"

"You'd rather the alternative?"

Ignis felt a chuckle bubble in his chest, the first in... Six... in almost a decade that the interplay of the two men behind him had given him something like joy and not oppressive sorrow.

"He's..." This time Prompto's voice quavered, faltered... "He's gone, isn't he?"

"Most like," Ignis answered, trying not to let his own voice break as he felt his heart do so. "Such is the preordained fate of the King of Kings."

He could feel Prompto's nod in the way his balance shifted against Ignis's arm, but he knew his old friend was likely steeling himself, preparing for what they would find... or wouldn't. Ignis had not kept the truth from the men, from his brothers, but there was something different now that all of their planning and steeling themselves would finally come to fruition in the form of their liege, dead.

They made their return visit into the Citadel, into the Throne Room, and Ignis felt himself pause, hesitance and a desire to live in a fantasy for a moment longer held him back.

Prompto and Gladio stayed beside him, but when he stepped forward the three of them moved as one.

Prompto's gasp caused Ignis's already high alarm to spike higher, only for it to shift into a whimper, the tell-tale sound of a soft sniffle, and the rub of a wrist against his eyes...

That was it then.

He took one step, and then another, fumbling a bit as he tried to recall the number of steps to come to rest at the foot of the throne. Gladio broke off to his right, Ignis heard him fumble a bit and he did his own best to scramble up behind what might have been the Shield's path, tracking him with ears even as his hands scrabbled for purchase on the crumbled and loose stone. His feet found ground on a few steps, another step and he found himself bumping into Gladio, and then the man putting out a hand to steady Ignis.

"That's... one blow I couldn't take for you, Highness... as much as I wish I could have."

Ignis felt wetness prickle at his eyes, and he knew his friend would not describe the scene, was likely having his own troubles coming to terms with it, so Ignis reached out to feel the warm skin of the freshly dead, rapidly cooling.

His fingers found the stubble on Noct's face, resting below his nose and near his mouth, feeling no breath even after waiting at least a dozen heartbeats. At first he wondered if Noct had simply... stopped, but his hands traveled down and quickly withdrew as they encountered naked steel. A few more groping movements and he found the sword... touched the hilt for a moment, fingers mapping, realizing with alarming clarity it was Regis's sword...

It had been the Father, then, who had delivered his Son to his...

Reward?

End?

Ignis's mind couldn't find the word. None of them made sense, none of them... could make any of this make sense. He waited, uncertain for a few moments, before he nodded and set his hand to the hilt of the blade. The least he could do is allow his friend to...

Tears ran down his cheeks.

"Iggy..." He felt Gladio's hand on his, and for a moment he thought the man intended to stop him, or take the task up himself, but he did neither, his hand simply resting and waiting, only to hear the frantic scramble of another pair of feet up the rise, and the gentle weight of another hand pressing, likely atop Gladio's.

"It's the least we can do to see that he is... tended," Ignis said. "We carried him far... and he us, but we must take him to his..." Ignis felt his eulogy die in a dry mouth, shaking his head. "Come on then."

He tightened his grip, and the men with him pulled, the heft and weight of the sword becoming even more when it was removed, and then was dropped unceremoniously with a resounding clang-clatter as it must have skidded down crumbled stone...

And the echoing silence brought a sharp, desperate, inhalation, followed soon after by a cough.

"Noct!" It was Prompto's scream, not the scream of mourning, no, the sound of joy... of... Ignis turned his head, wished his eyes could see anything more than blank emptiness.

"Noct," it was Gladio's turn to say his friend's name, and with the same eager prayer and benediction of any faithful. The smile was... ringing in Gladio's words.

"Noct?" Ignis's own words were tentative, as he couldn't dare to hope, even after... even if...

"Come on, guys," their King answered. "I was gone a while, but it couldn't have been _that_ long."

Ignis felt as though his chest would burst with relief, and then a few moments later he found himself, all of them, pulled together in a behemoth of a hug, their arms all wrapped and crushing and tangling them together, their smiles pressed against each other's faces.

"Although..." He felt Noct's arms loosen, and Ignis could hear the puzzled wonder... "I'm... not supposed to be here... I... Six, why am I complaining?"

"Well," it was Gladio, oddly, who answered. "Because it's all well and good to die for something, I suppose... if the three of us have learned anything in the last decade, it's that living for that something is... a whole lot harder."

"Indeed," Ignis added. "The world is a bit... chaotic, at the moment. I imagine the reconstruction will be something of a trial."

"A trial, huh? Noct answered. "I'm getting pretty good at those..."

Ignis smiled in response, and for the first time in almost ten years he allowed himself to feel... hope. The three of them had been planning for this day, waiting for it, steeling themselves for it, and yet they were here, now, alive, well, and with their dear friend and king beside them.

"So Talcott gave me the ten minute summary," Noct continued, Ignis naturally falling in beside him, and his feet carefully feeling their way across cracked pavement. "But what's been going on? Lestallum seems to be where most of Insomnia has ended up, the Empire's gone, what's left though?"

"Lestallum, as Talcott said, has become the de facto capital of Lucis in the absence of light," Ignis answered. "As he no doubt mentioned, the disc allowed for power, and the power allowed enough light to keep the daemons at bay. Hydroponics around the disc were able to keep enough food flowing to keep the refugees and town fed, hunters patrol the areas to the north west, keeping the Vesperpool as clear as possible to allow for fishing... native wildlife, flora and fauna, has been devastated."

"So that's in place." Noct sounded like he was actually paying attention, and taking note, and that was in itself a stark contrast to Ignis's prince of old. "Who's in charge?"

"Iggy, of course," Gladio answered. "You didn't think he'd sit around waiting for someone else to muck up your kingdom, did you, Noct?"

Noctis laughed, and Ignis thought he could hear Noct making some sort of gesture, waving a hand or scratching his head, perhaps. Ignis couldn't tell. "Well, at least I know Lestallum's in good hands."

"Well enough," Ignis answered, a slight flush in his cheeks at the praise. It had been a practical matter at first, and then after Ignis became aware of the fact Noct was predestined to die, he made it his mission to keep Lucis afloat if he could not save her king.

They had all dealt with their knowledge in different ways... although it had not come to pass. Ignis sighed. Years ago he would have given anything to know that Noctis would come through this alive, and he still would have given anything, but the matters of peace and clarity in his heart had been shaken.

A great crash came from behind, and Ignis drew his daggers only for Noctis to growl out: "What now?"

Ignis waited, the crunch of pavement gave him no knowledge of their foe.

"Is that it?" Noct shouted, he didn't sound angry, but he most assuredly sounded like he was trying to be heard. "The Chosen King must live for his people now?"

Ignis felt the answer rattle in his bones, words beyond his ken, sounds that jarred at his ears and made him wonder if they were bleeding. Whoever was speaking... a god certainly, seemed to rumble on forever and Ignis could barely keep his feet as his senses swam, giving him no sense of up and down.

Finally, the tirade finished, and Ignis heard a deep breath come from his side, Noctis.

He gaped. "Is that...?"

"Duuuuude," Prompto said, voice soft. "I think that was Bahamut!"

"Welp," Noctis said, a sound of him brushing his hands against each other coming from Ignis's left. "Time to get to work."

"What did he say?" Ignis asked, out of curiosity and perhaps a deep awe that it seemed Noctis had understood the Draconian's words...

"Just that this is my reward from a power beyond the Six."

"Beyond...?" Ignis swallowed down his shock, very few, if any, tales ever spoke of a power beyond the Six, although many had speculated... "You understood him?"

"Yeah?" Noctis answered, as though that was obvious. "Didn't you guys...? Oh. Yeah... let's deal with that later."

Later, his king had gained at least one of the powers of a Messenger, and Ignis was supposed to leave it for later? Still, Noctis was not wrong that they had other duties to attend to now.

Ignis felt his phone buzz in his back pocket, and he pulled it out, waiting a moment. "Call from... home," the phone announced.

Ignis slid his thumb across the screen. "Elise?"

"Dad! It's so bright out! What happened? Are you ok? How are Uncle Gladi and Prom?"

"We are hale and whole," Ignis responded, feeling a ghost of a smile pull on his lips at the idea of his daughter being so confused by the state of affairs, and even by the meager light of pre-dawn, by any light at all, she was only eight, so she'd never known a world of light. "Your uncles are fine."

"Hey Ellie!" Prompto said, yelled really, his pet name for Elise.

"Yo," Gladio said, loud enough to carry over the speaker.

"... Hi?" Noctis said, his voice a complicated morass of confusion.

"Who's that?" Elise asked, voice far too excited.

"That is King Noctis," Ignis answered, but before she could decide what she felt about _that_ , Ignis continued on. "Round up Cor, Monica, and Iris and have them come to Hammerhead."

"Can I come?" She asked, followed by the ever-effective: "Pleeeeease?"

"Yes, you may come as well, the Searoad and Highroad should both be clear, inform Cor it is his decision which to take." He heard a mumble in response from Gladio that sounded like 'Deb'. "Also inform Aunt Deborah that Uncle Gladio is fine."

"You can count on me!" Elise answered, and Ignis expected the soft 'boop' to indicate the closed connection, only for a far less excited, chipper and loud voice to continue. "Dad...?"

"Yes, dear?"

"Is it... is it really day again? Forever?"

Ignis turned his head up, feeling the dawn break across his skin. "Yes, the day has returned, and the night no longer holds daemons, just as promised. Now off you go, young lady, I'll expect you and the others in Hammerhead in a few hours."

"Yup!" The boop came, and Ignis slid his phone back in his pocket.

"She freaking out?" Prompto asked.

"You'd freak out too if you'd never seen the sun before," Gladio answered.

"You..." Noctis continued to sound confused. "You have a _daughter_?"

Galdio snorted.

"And _you_ have a Deborah!"

"Deb," Gladio corrected. "Yeah, one of the gals from Lestallum, we married... three years ago?"

"Four years ago this April," Ignis continued, because _he_ actually remembered the man's anniversary even if Gladio sometimes did not. "And yes, Elise Aqua Scientia, she is eight."

"Do you have a kid?" Noct asked, sounding very, very confused, and likely addressing either Gladio or Prompto.

"Nah," Prompto answered. "Not married either, no worries, we can be child-free, bachelor bros!"

"No words of endearment for your darling Commodore?" Ignis said, finding himself eager to push off the scrutiny to someone else.

"You and _Aranea_?!"

"We're not really... dating," Prompto answered. "It's more a... fight at each other's side and then make out sort of thing."

Noctis laughed, and oddly it sounded a bit bitter, or frustrated, and Ignis was at a loss as to why that would have caused such a reaction. "You guys all..." He stumbled over his words, Noctis always did when it was about something emotional. "You guys all moved on with your lives."

Ah.

Ignis frowned. "In some ways, yes."

"Iggy!" That was Gladio.

"It would be a disservice to everyone if we did not," Ignis continued, ignoring the tacit chastisement. "The country needed to be organized, resistances forged, personal ties... altered, but never forget, Noct, we are your sworn swords."

Yesterday, before dawn, it would have felt like a betrayal to say this, to tell Noct this... but today their king was with them, possibly for many years, and he deserved to know that some things had changed.

"Yeah..." Noct seemed to be mulling, Ignis allowed him the moment. "Sorry, it's just... weird. I knew I was in the crystal for a while, but I figured a few months, maybe a year, and then I saw how screwed up the world was, how much the night had fallen... it makes sense that you guys would have lives."

"It's not like we forgot," Prompto said, his voice soft. "We just... knew that... we _thought_ we knew that your time with us now was gonna be short."

"You were ready for me to die," Noct said, no anger or fire in his voice, just simple understanding.

"Ready's a pretty strong word. But... we thought it was gonna happen, so... we prepared."

Not for the first time, Ignis desperately wished he could see Noctis's face so he could have even a hint of what his prince, his _king_ was thinking. He hated to think he was upset, but he felt that was the most likely. The three of them had made their peace with losing Noct in their own ways, Prompto threw himself into work, Gladio into women - and then one in particular - and Ignis... Ignis wasn't certain he'd made his peace. A mix of keeping up an outward appearance that he was a custodian of the monarchy and keeping his daughter fed a diet of hope meant that in some ways he was least equipped to deal with Noct dying.

He had been trained, nearly since birth, to make Noctis his life...

"All of us missed you, Noct," Ignis said, surprised how much emotion he heard in his voice, he cleared his throat, trying to shove away the raw feelings that had come up on him unnoticed. "Don't ever think we didn't."

"Right." He sounded like he was sulking. "Right, yeah." His voice growing more confident. "There's still a lot to do, so let's do it."

"Indeed." Ignis found much of his old good humor returning.

"Well, I can't wait to meet Elise, and Deb, and... um re-meet Aranea."

"As ever, your wish is our command, Your Majesty," Ignis answered, with just the appropriate mix of deference and irony, and he was rewarded by Noctis's arm flung over his shoulder, tugging the two of them close, and the four of them continued to stumble their way towards Hammerhead.

Much of the fear and frustration and anger of the last decade seemed to burn off in the heat of the morning sun, and Ignis felt his chest lighten, eager to face tomorrow, not dreading his king's loss and sacrifice.

 

*

Noctis wasn't truly certain of his feet on the ground for some time, his friends were at his side, of course, their eyes skating over to him and then drifting off, as though assuring themselves that he was there and that he was real. He also wasn't certain what Bahamut wanted from him... he was a king, but a king of what? Who were his subjects? Did he even have right to their fealty after being gone for a decade?

The four of them exited the capital city, crossing the long bridge between the mainland and Insomnia proper, and then into Leide, leaving Noctis with his thoughts, and yet not alone.

"Do we even need a king?" He asked, mostly for Ignis, but for the rest of them as well.

"A king is a symbol," Ignis answered. "As well you know. Could dawn have broken with the sacrifice of a king, overturning the world and offering a new path forward? Of course. Everyone knows the tales now, although few know how the story was predestined to end; to much of Lucis you are their savior... the end of the Starscourge and the end of the daemons means that now, more than ever, the people need a pillar of safety."

"I'm not going to just sit around on a throne," Noct answered. "I'll till the damn soil myself if I have to."

"There are plenty of men and women who wish to return to farming." Ignis, as always, brought him back down to the ground. "Herders, fishers... our immediate food needs should be readily handled. Care has been taken with produce, seeds, and other cultivars, and they have been preserved in preparation for this day."

He wanted to whine, a deep, childish part of him wanted to demand 'then what am I here for', but instead he considered. "What then?"

"Politics," Ignis answered. "There is a small ruling council of sorts that will need... handling. Accordo and Niflheim remain political entities, and there are likely other pockets of civilization that remained in hiding throughout the last decade. Diplomatic negotiations with those parties will be necessary..."

Ignis sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"And let us never forget that with the passing of Lady Lunafreya, the world has also been left without a voice of the Oracle. Many would look to you to fill that void, as you've received the blessing of the Six, and... perhaps have received a manner of blessing similar to those of the Hexatheon's Heavenly Host."

"No pressure or anything," Noctis said. He'd had a hell of a time communing with the Six. Titan had wanted to slug it out with him, Leviathan as well, to say nothing of Ifrit... he supposed he understood Bahamut the most, as the Draconian had been his guide in his ten years of meditation, and yet he was among the more alien of the Astrals in thought... but he couldn't deny that something had shifted in his mind after meeting Bahamut.

"You're gonna be great, dude!" Prompto said, coming up alongside him and slinging an arm over his shoulder. "We've got your back!"

"Thanks." He laughed, wrapping an arm around Prompto in return.

He felt better, if only slightly, and the fact was that the four of them were back together, what else mattered beyond that in the moment.

They finally arrived at Hammerhead sometime later, and after a quick shuffling through of the supplies, Ignis set to work at Takka's traditional station, cooking something that smelled way too good for their near-apocalyptic landscape. A few minutes later, Noctis could identify the smells of chili con carne, bubbling its way towards completion, a fitting meal with the four of them back together at Hammerhead.

"Dad!" A trim, beanpole of a girl came barreling through the door with a speed that was impressive, and then slammed into Ignis, arms wrapped tight around him, her face buried against his chest. Yet for all her exuberance, she never seemed to throw Ignis off balance, the man naturally answering her speed with a steady presence. "I was worried."

"Nothing to fear," Ignis answered, his hand touching gently against long, honey-colored hair, but it was easy to see the way he clung to the girl, carefully matting down her hair, obviously assuring himself that his daughter was fine just as much as she was doing the same. "Elise, you should introduce yourself to King Noctis."

The girl released Ignis, and turned towards the only person who she likely didn't know on sight, Noctis, and he looked back at her and her huge, blue-green eyes. Her face didn't quite match Ignis's in shape, too round, but her coloration was similar, if bereft of the few moles that had always adorned Ignis's face. It made his heart twist in a way that was unsettling to him, if not unexpected; he was man enough to admit he was always jealous when Ignis had someone else in his life... and here he was, staring at incontrovertible proof that sometime in the last decade, Ignis had taken a lover.

"Um..." She froze for a moment, and then delivered a flawless curtsy. "Elise Aqua Scientia, Your Majesty."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Elise," he said, with a hand over his heart he nodded to her with a half-bow.

She looked up at him, wide eyed, and Noct looked back at her, noting her red and black clothes that reminded him more than a bit of Iris's clothing, but too large... it took him a moment to realize they may very well have been Iris's... "Your shirt's bloody."

"Don't tell your dad," Noct said, conspiratorially, even though he knew that Ignis was well within hearing range. "He won't let me hear the end of it."

She snickered, and stepped away, making a gesture for zipping her lips, and just like that, Noct couldn't find it in his heart to begrudge her even a bit. How could he not adore her?

Ignis, on the other hand, was giving him an unimpressed expression, which Noct promptly ignored in the face of Cor, Monica, and Iris all coming into the diner a few moments later, and needing to be greeted, hugged, clasped on the back, and generally allowed them to welcome him back. Cor looked very similar, a bit grayer and more grizzled, but the same man at the bone, Monica was the same, a few more lines to her face, but the same. Iris, on the other hand, was a tall, and well-muscled woman in her mid twenties now, with a trio of parallel scars across her right cheek, enough to rival the ones her brother had worn for years. She looked... terrifying, but in a fearsome and competent way. At her back was slung a lean, wicked katana no doubt capable of the same devastation as her brother.

"Welcome back, Noct!" She said, giving him a rib-cracking hug.

"It's good to see you guys." He returned the hug, far more gently, and then held an impromptu court in the over-stuffed supply depot that was Takka's old diner.

Hours passed as the eight of them covered the missing ground of the last decade. One couldn't learn a kingdom in a few hours, or even a few weeks, but between them they were able to fill in many missing pages, the small population crowded into Lestallum, the remains of the old Niflheim Empire and Accordo, the crops, the fish, the few things that still grew in the barren, darkened wasteland.

Cor, in addition to his duties as a daemon hunter, had taken up the role of General, head of the Lucian armies and Councilor of War; Monica was the Councilor for Internal Affairs; and Iris was the leader of what passed for the Crownsguard proper, the elite unit of the Lucian military. The idea of the dainty young girl he'd known somehow becoming that well-trained was incongruous, but he couldn't deny she looked the part.

It was only slightly less strange than one of the changes among his three closest friends.

"Councilor of _Agriculture_?"

He looked at Gladio, and he answered with a nonchalant shrug. "Sort of how I met Deb in the first place," Gladio answered. "One of my first jobs after the 'Scourge hit in earnest was to go out into the wild, find whatever plants might be cultivated at the disc, and if they couldn't, Iggy'd get them stored away for whenever cropland was available again. Hell, I even ran around catching birdbeasts, dualhorns, and chickatrices to keep us in some of the bigger domesticated animals. Deb helped set us up with the greenhouses on the disc, and we... hit it off."

The odd thing was, it probably actually suited him. It had been Gladio who first introduced him to camping when he was younger, and as much as he complained about it it was also what found him his first love of fishing, a sport he was capable of handling in his youth while his body finished recovering from his injuries. The idea of Gladio running around farming sort of... made sense in an odd way.

"Are you my Foreign Affairs minister or something?" He asked Prompto, only for him to wave him off.

"Nah, keep me out of that," Prompto answered. "I'd rather be the best friend than deal with that pile of..." Prompto glanced around, realizing that he was in the presence of a good chunk of those Councilors.

"I tend to take on those duties," Ignis continued. "Commodore Highwind and Prompto are most directly responsible for any international smoothing of feathers, however. Her airship fleet is the Kingdom's navy of a sort, and Prompto has become quite apt at upkeep of the vessels."

"So he is my Foreign Affairs Councilor, he just won't cop to the title?"

"Precisely."

"It's just so... weird," Noctis said, finally, looking around at his assembled Councilors, his _friends_ and realizing that they had grown up, they had become the backbone of his kingdom... "Well, for now, keep on doing what you're doing. I can't say I'd have anything valuable to contribute until I get my feet under me."

"Planting's my first priority," Gladio said. "It's early enough in spring that we should be able to get crops in the ground in time for an early summer harvest."

"Ugh, the First Secretary is going to want me and Aranea to come to dinner... I still can't remember which one is the salad fork..."

Ignis pinched the bridge of his nose.

"It's the one with flat tines, and the left tine is fatter, Uncle Prom!" Elise answered.

Ignis gestured to his daughter with a look on his face that said 'when are you going to learn this?' and Noctis couldn't help but snigger, since he'd been on the receiving end of that face more than once in his youth.

"Cor and I will be offering discharges to anyone who wants to go back to a normal life," Iris said, a few moments later, and Cor nodded in response. "Hopefully we can keep the army a manageable size."

"You're staying?" Noct asked, not out of disbelief, just curious.

"Wouldn't miss it."

Noct then stretched, popping his back and standing. "I need to stretch, clear my head. I'll be back in a bit."

Everyone stood as he left, and he didn't even take it poorly when most of them piled out of the diner in order to watch him stretch, letting his face soak up the sun, allowing himself to feel alive to... _live_. He was going to have to figure out everything, and he still felt like a strong breeze might blow him away.

"Heyaz," Prompto came up behind him, grasping at his shoulder and pulling him close.

"Hey." He pressed a hand to his chest, feeling his pulse under his palm. "They send you to cheer me up?"

"Seemed wise."

"I thought I was going to die."

"Yeah... so did we..." Prompto trailed off, his voice soft. "I mean, no one _wanted_ that, but Ignis told us to prepare for that."

"Good ol' Specs." Noct shook his head. "I missed you guys."

"We missed you. I mean the whole world missed you, but we missed you first."

Noct chuckled, and with Prompto there he suddenly remembered his friend's picture, the one Noct had taken with him to remind him of where he had come from, and why he was sacrificing his life for them... He didn't quite want to return it, but it felt appropriate to share. He fished the photo out of his jacket, and then looked at it.

"Huh?" Looking back at him was a picture of him and Luna, something that had never happened, only in a momentary dream he'd had when dying... his coronation, her at his side, head resting on his arm, the two of them dozing against each other.

"Whoa..."

Noct tucked the photo back away, not wanting to deal with that weirdness for the moment. "You with me?"

"You bet your ass."

The two of them fell silent for a long few moments. "Now what the heck is this with you and dating Aranea?!"

"Man!" Prompto raked his fingers through his hair. "I'm going to kill Ignis. I don't know, we... fight together, and then we make out, and then she's my plus one at a state dinner and then she's gone for a month and... yeah I love her, but I'm pretty sure we're just... friends with benefits? Something like that."

"Her loss," Noct answered. It was strange to think of his best friend having a girlfriend, or even just a lover, and yet he couldn't help but be thrilled for it. "Any idea when you'll have to go to Altissia?"

"Week at least, the First Secretary will want to take stock before she starts trying to twist our arms." Prompto shrugged. "Altissia proper was the only part of Accordo to stay standing, so they've been eating nothing but fish for a decade. Gladio's been hoping we can turn most of Duscae into farmland and we'll probably have the best variety to export. Iggy says that'll keep us in a strong economic position, or something."

Noctis laughed. "Well, I'll need you to show me around some in the meantime. Somehow I doubt there's much of an arcade or market or..." He shook his head again, wishing he knew what the hell he was doing. "I'm just worried there's no place for me here. No one... planned for me."

"Dude, you... you're the heart, the soul, do you know how much it sucked to not have you around? Gladio and Iggy didn't talk about you for almost two years after Zegnautus Keep, and it was because it hurt too bad. We were just... sleepwalking. Yeah we would have kept going without you, but it was... empty."

Noct let that sink in... soul. Dad had always talked about a king as a father to his people, a pillar of strength in trying times, and Noct would just have to feel that and make it work.

"Yeah..."

Prompto gave the back of his head a quick smack. "Come on, back to it."

He smacked Prompto's hand away and headed back towards Takka's and the garage. "Yeah, yeah."

"Hey, Highness!" Noct turned to see Cindy, still... um... hot, and immodestly dressed, and just as chipper as always. "I got just the thing for ya!"

"Oh," Prompto said, and then a moment later: "Oh! Yeah!"

It didn't take long, and the surprise was mostly ruined by the fact that Cindy retreated into one of the back areas of the garage, but that didn't change how wonderful it felt to see the Regalia, 'the old girl' as Cindy had called her, back in fighting form. "Wow..."

He walked up to it, running a trembling hand across the old lines, every dent had been pounded out, the glass replaced, the headlights repaired, everything about her was... perfect. It was everything he needed in that moment, the memories of his friends in happier times, the joy of the road with his father when he'd been younger, everything in one beautifully tended package.

"Picture time..." he said, it felt so long ago and yet...

Wordlessly the four of them arranged themselves, and it didn't even take much for them to return to poses fairly like they had taken ten years ago. It wasn't a return to the past, the time for that was long gone, but... it was a salve for his soul all the same.

"Come on," he said, to his collected friends. "Let's go home."

The four of them piled into the car, Ignis taking a seat behind Noct, and although Iris was their traditional fifth member, no one protested when it was Elise who piled into the car, wedged between her father and 'Uncle Gladi'.

It was hard, running through the various parts of his country, seeing how much the world had been ruined, but there was something like hope as he continued, and it just felt... right, fine, as they drove by the Disc of Cauthass, and he remembered that Ignis had wanted to see it, just like a tourist... and the ruins of the chocobo forest off farther east...

Still, he was alive, with the top down and the wind in his hair and his friends at his side, and he supposed, just for the moment, he could get lost in that feeling.

He noticed the atmosphere almost as soon as they rounded the bend to take the bridge into Lestallum, and a few moments more passed when he started to see what looked like soldiers at first, guarding the entrance. Noctis slowed to a near halt, and the shocked look on the faces of the men at the gate was almost worth it.

"Uhh... Your Majesty?"

Noct waved a lazy hand. "Hey. Just pulling into town."

"Hi, Nikai!" Elise said from behind him.

"Miss Scientia... we... well we were expecting you but... um... just go on ahead."

Noct shook his head, a little confused, and continued into the tunnel, only a moment later he saw what the guard, Nikai, must have been concerned about, the entire bridge was lined with people, and after a few more feet of movement, Noct was forced to a stop just to avoid hitting someone.

"Your Majesty!" Noct turned, there were dozens of people, hundreds maybe, and he realized, really, really realized for the first time that he'd... he'd saved the world, he'd brought light and hope back, a tiny little flickering flame that needed to be nurtured for years to come.

He waved again, this time with purpose, a smile on his face that was almost genuine. Two guards pushed ahead, clearing a path, thankfully without violence, just a gentle reminder to clear the road, and Noct still found the Regalia at a crawl, and he was pawed at, hands held out in a way he was more used to thinking of Luna's way with people. A few grasping at hope that the Oracle might save them. Fingers touched his face, hands clasped his free hand as he traveled, and it took at least an hour just to make their way to the old parking lot, only for the five of them to be swarmed again.

This time, one of them ran up to Gladio and wrapped her arms around him. She was a petite woman, well shorter than Noct, with dark brown hair, and she looked almost comically small compared to Gladio, but the man scooped her up and kissed her, hands resting on her butt, only for her to wrap her legs around his torso and kiss him back, the two of them falling heavily against the Regalia.

"Well... um... ok then."

Prompto snorted. "That's Deb."

"I hoped so," Noct answered, almost laughing.

More people pressed in around him, and Noctis reached out, touching hands presented to him as he tried to move through the crowd, and tried not to think about the fact that Gladio and Deb were now pressed lewdly against the hood of the Regalia.

They finally broke through a bit later, and Noct saw Aranea waiting at the stairway, a hip cocked against the wall.

"How come I don't get a greeting like that?" Prompto asked, hooking his thumb behind him to indicate where Gladio and Deb were.

"I'd break you in half, you twig," Aranea answered.

"Your concern for my well-being is touching."

"Shades."

"Commodore," Ignis responded with a slight nod. "Any communications?"

"Altissia sent their thanks, blah blah friendship and mutual respect."

"Of course." A moment later he nodded. "I'll leave you to your celebrations, then. Dinner tonight at the apartment."

"We'll be there." She then reached out, grabbing Prompto by the wrist and dragged him off to do... likely what Gladio and Deb were doing on the hood of the Regalia...

"Are we going to celebrate?" Elise asked. Ignis reached out to touch her, and Noct noted the way she moved just so that Ignis could reach her shoulder and pull her close to his side.

"We'll have the finest dinner we can muster tonight, but for now... it's up to Noct. The office or the apartment?"

Noct froze, feeling... something, perhaps almost as though he had no place in the discussion. He was the unintended addition. "I should probably get up to speed on everything."

They cut a path through Lestallum, ending up in one of the buildings near the disc, and Noct felt a bit like an intruder as he settled in at a couch against the windowed wall of Ignis's office. To his credit, Ignis didn't make him feel out of place, merely handing over neatly printed and filed reports on whatever Noct asked for. The couch was clearly Elise's domain, however, with several books for a younger reader set out on the tables beside it.

He settled on food first, despite Ignis's assurances, only to touch the back cover and find it oddly bumped. He flipped it over, looking at the obviously intentional set of raised dots, poking them.

"That's for dad to read," Elise said, obviously reading his curious expression, and taking up her own reading material. Noct opened the book seeing even more of the raised dots in little sets of six. "Ms. Melody types up the reports, and then puts them in the dot shorthand for dad."

Another flip, and the design of the book became more obvious, 'right ways' was a book bound to the left with the small report on agriculture, if the packet was flipped end over end it became a bound book of the raised dots. Noctis ran his fingers over them, barely able to tell the difference between them, and he couldn't imagine the control and patience it must have taken Ignis to find a way to work with his... Noct shook his head, flipping the book back over again and getting on with his reading.

'Ms. Melody' was soon introduced as a stout woman in her late fifties at the youngest, who almost immediately produced a steaming cup of what must have been coffee for Ignis, and a small glass of water for Elise.

"What would you like, Your Majesty?" Elise asked, shaking Noctis out of his stupor for a moment.

"Just water is fine, thank you. And... I think you should call me Noctis, or Noct... I'll be your Uncle just as much as Gladio or Prompto."

She looked over to him with wide, bulging eyes, but eventually she nodded. "Um... alright, Uncle Noctis."

Water arrived a minute or so later, and Noctis found himself engrossed in the agricultural reports, looking over the supplies that had stockpiled and preserved over the past years. Ignis had done so much damn work to make sure that the world hadn't gone to shit.

An hour or so into his reading, he glanced over to where Elise had set herself up at the coffee table near his leg. She was kneeling, feet tucked behind her, resting on one of the pillows, and working through what looked to be multiplication and long division sets, unless he missed his guess.

He leaned in, setting the report down, still open, only for a gentle clearing of the throat to make him look at Elise. She took the report that he'd carelessly laid down, spine probably cracking, and then placed a piece of paper in his spot and closed it. The disapproval was obvious on her face.

"Did you learn that look from your dad?" He asked.

"Yes," she answered, obviously not ashamed at all. She might have some innate understanding of his station, but she certainly didn't bow and scrape the way someone who still remembered the height of the monarchy might have.

He gave up on the urge to stifle his curiosity, and slid down to the floor, crossing his legs to sit beside her.

"Can you check my work?" She asked.

"Ah... Probably?" He thought he remembered most of his math lessons. They weren't his favorite, but he liked them a good bit more than 'the history of why you are going to have your life sucked out because of a big dumb stone'.

She pushed the workbook over, and Noct flipped back through it, looking for the last checked work, finding that the same hand that did the work also had marked corrections in red next to the incorrect answers.

"Does your mom help with this?" He asked, only for the look on Elise's face to tell him exactly how thoughtless that question had been in the face of a world filled with monsters and daemons and death. "Never mind."

"It's just me and dad," she answered, later, with a soft pain in her voice that Noct tried to ignore and just couldn't, so he slung an arm over her shoulder and got to work, marking left handed as best he could.

"So... um... this one is wrong..."

"Oh!" She took the red pen from his hand scratching out the five and marking it with a six where she'd had the answer obviously right in her head, just not on the page. "My bad."

He chuckled, the next few errors were more of the same. Elise knew her math, just seemed to rush here and there, making small mistakes.

"Just be a little slower going through," he said when he got to the end. "There's no reason to rush when you can take your time and get it right."

"Truly it is the end times," Ignis finally interrupted from above them both. He was smiling, clearly amused by the irony of Noct being the one to tell anyone to take lessons methodically.

"Either that or all those lessons are finally sticking," Noctis answered. "Your daughter is quite the smartypants..." He turned back to Elise. "That's a compliment. I can't tell you how many times your dad's smarts saved my life."

"Five o'clock," Ignis announced, and that seemed to be Elise's cue to pack up, neatening the table, putting away the report Noct had been reading, and generally blowing through the office like a live hurricane, leaving cleanliness in her wake.

"We should head home to prepare dinner, wouldn't you say?"

"Indeed!" And she sounded so painfully like her father that Noct couldn't help but smile. She then came up to Ignis's side and put her hand right on the back of his wrist, which he'd noted seemed to be Elise's way of announcing 'here I am' to Ignis. The three of them left the office, with Elise turning out the lights. "Goodnight, Miss Melody!"

Melody offered her own goodnight and promised 'Minister Scientia' to lock up the office. After they got downstairs, Ignis excused himself for a detour to check on the disc hydroponics for dinner while Elise guided Noct home. For a moment, Noct worried about his friend wandering off into town alone, without even his cane to help, but Elise seemed to take the departure of a matter of course, and Noct couldn't exactly bring himself to dotter after Ignis just to assure himself his friend was fine.

Ignis's apartment was as expected: nearby, sparsely decorated, economical, and spacious, with a kitchen to rival a fine dining restaurant.

The centerpiece was a huge window that overlooked the disc, and Noct wandered over to see bright lights that were casting down upon a neatly manicured row of bushes that lined the interior of the window.

He caught a scent, bright and tart, and frowned, the faint whiff bringing him back to his childhood in a moment. A instant later he knelt, inspecting them, and finding the green buds that would no doubt bloom to bright red berries growing there.

Ulwaat berries...

The bright green leaves were unfamiliar to him, as he had only tasted the fruit a few times. He reached out and carefully picked a leaf, his fingers bruising it and smelling the way the scent of it burst under his fingers.

"The fruit is really good," Elise said, coming up to stand beside him. "Dad drinks the leaves for tea... and when he's sad sometimes he bakes little cakes with the berries."

"... Oh." Noct looked down at the bushes, Tenebrean ulwaat berries, almost extinct after the imperial occupation. Ignis would have hardly let it go extinct on purpose, likely he'd had some on hand just to cook for Noct when they'd left for Altissia near the end.

He found himself bound up in old memories, the first time he'd tasted the little cakes, just once, soon after he'd awoken from his coma after his injuries. It had tasted like... hope, and freedom, and life; he'd giggled with Luna over the confection and meeting someone who he could talk to and be friends with, and he remembered it for years. Noct remembered trying to explain what it had tasted like to Ignis, and Ignis - who had already taken up the task of cooking Noct's meals to sneak in vegetables - took to baking with a vengeance soon after. Every few days, and then weeks, and then months would pass, but almost as soon as he thought that Ignis must have forgotten about it finally he was presented with another attempt. It was always wrong, and towards the end it was always 'not quite right', until the mysterious ulwaat berry that Coctura had asked for...

For Noct, ulwaat berries would always mean simpler times, but it was hard to imagine that to Ignis they would be anything but... 'Noct'. It was that moment, more than anything, that assured him that even though they had known he was going to die, they still, in their hearts, hoped that he would be with them again.

It was also hard to wonder if it might have meant something more. There were dozens of foods growing in the hydroponic gardens along the disc, and yet Ignis cared for these himself... a selfish voice in the back of his mind told him he knew what he wanted it to mean, but he also knew... it didn't.

"Could I..." He cleared his throat, coughing out the roughness he found in his voice. "Could I try the tea?"

"Sure!" Elise answered, perfectly guileless and unaware of the crush of emotions pressing down on Noct's chest.

He stood, leaf still pinched in his fingers, and she took that from him, and then his jacket, and then his bloodied shirt - replacing it with a t-shirt of Ignis's while it could be cleaned and mended - and brewed him some tea.

With a few more moments to think on it, he fished out the picture of Luna, the one that had never been, taking a steaming sip of the tea as Elise sat beside him.

"Who's that?"

"My..." The relationship was too complicated for any one word, for any set of words... "Lady Lunafreya, she was my fiancee years ago. We were friends when I was younger, but everything went wrong."

"Did you love her?"

Nothing like the words of an innocent girl, again, to bring the whole of that home. "I... would have been happy with her."

But the truth was, that time was gone, and done, and would never return. He took a long inhale of the tea, letting the berry scent waft through his nose and teased there, pulling his mind back to better times and just... simplicity. It was nice, and he thought he would more than enjoy the chance to at least have a few things that were familiar in the confusing world.

 

*

Ignis returned home with an armful of fish and a sizable serving of vegetables, a part of his mind wondering if his mind was playing tricks on him, and if he was in some bizarre waking dream of sorts. He'd known, someday, that this day would come, that they would come together and celebrate, but it just seemed so unbelievable that that would include Noct.

"Welcome home!" Elise greeted him as he stepped through the door and carefully shucked his shoes.

"Sup, Ignis?" Noct said from somewhere near the kitchen, probably the breakfast bar if his memories of the king's habits were anything to go by.

"I hope you brought your appetite," Ignis answered, carefully picking his way to the kitchen and making certain he had the lay of the land as he set out his purchases.

"Looks good... is that barramundi?"

"Of course. Aquaculture has been difficult, but the population of several fish has managed to at least remain stable," he answered, knowing that Noct had likely read much of that information already today.

"Do you like barramundi, High... Uncle Noct?"

"My favorite," Noct answered, and Ignis could hear him shift on the barstool just a bit. "It was the very first fish I ever caught in Alistor, thanks to a fisher by the name of Navyth..."

"Oh, I know Navyth!" Elise interrupted, manners manners... "He runs the fish farms!"

"Does he now?" Noct sounded... amused, or pleased, Ignis couldn't quite catch the tone.

"Yup! He says 'gotta get those guppies ready for when the sun's about again'!" She offered a poor imitation of Navyth's drawl.

"I can imagine. He seemed to love fishing more than anything else in the world," Noct had a smile in his voice, one that Ignis couldn't help but echo as he set hands to getting his cutting board and knives ready. "So what's for dinner?"

"Pea soup, pan-grilled barramundi, mushroom skewers, and tomato cake," Ignis answered, setting out the barramundi and working to prep the flesh. Years ago he would have sworn he could fillet the thing with his eyes closed... a hubris that had proven not entirely accurate, but he had become more than competent at the task in the intervening decade. "Elise, if you would see to the tomatoes and peas."

"Yup yup!" She headed over to the sink, and he heard her set herself up just to the side of the sink, 'her side' of it.

"So do you do this often?" Noct asked, definitely having taken a seat across from them at the bar. "Cooking for everyone?"

"Whenever we're able," Ignis answered. "It seems as though it has happened less and less over the last years..." It was hard to justify sometimes, acting as though everything would be fine and the world would return to normal, but Ignis often forced himself to persevere on that front, for Elise even when he couldn't muster the belief for himself.

"Still plenty," Elise added, although she more likely just saw it as a time she could spend with her Uncles and the various others who had taken up councilor positions in the Lestallum government. "The only rule is: no business until the second course!"

"Is that so?"

Ignis recognized the tone of humoring the girl in Noct's voice, but at the same time at least he was doing it. He was honestly surprised that Noct had taken to her at all, but he seemed to enjoy her presence if the way he sought her out in his office today was any indication.

"So it's basically an informal state dinner."

"Thereabouts," Ignis answered. "We discuss our most recent efforts towards normalcy, efforts to remove daemon infestation from nearby areas, troubles with the local peace... anything of the sort. Master Cid comes on occasion, when he's feeling up to it."

"How old is he now?"

"Eighty-seven, and ornery as ever. Although he's been a great help to Prompto in learning some of the ins and outs of the Niflheim airships, as the upkeep of Aranea's small fleet is a large portion of Lestallum's prosperity."

"That and the disc," Noct said. "That's what Talcott said, anyway."

"Talcott is quite correct on that front. Without the disc, we would have been at the mercy of the daemons in a matter of hours..." Ignis sighed, returning to the fish and wishing that he could think about happier things, and yet this was Noct who was asking. He most likely wasn't asking to dwell in the past, but to even understand it at all.

"Sorry... must have sucked. I would have come back sooner if I could." Ever Noct was a master of the understatement.

"We know," Ignis answered. "My research in the intervening years has suggested you spent a great amount of time in contemplation of... there were no further details than the term 'Providence'."

"Y-yeah," Noct stumbled over the simple word, and Ignis felt a bit bad for prying, whatever experiences had shaped Noctis over the intervening decade, even if they were more spiritual than physical, it was clear they were every bit as difficult and transformative as what Ignis had experienced. "It's... hard to describe."

"You needn't if you do not wish to."

"Nah," Noct assured him. "It's not a big deal."

'Not a big deal', the divine power that had been brought to bear against the Starscourge and Ardyn, shattering it in a matter of moments, that had left Noct in possession of a power that was said to rival that of the Six... He chuckled.

"All of the Lucii of old each tested and tried and taught me, slowly returning every drop of Light that had poured into the veins of each subsequent King... until it was... enough."

Ignis was uncertain what to say.

"Almost too much..." Noct continued, his voice barely a whisper, and Ignis wondered if even Elise heard his words. "There's a reason a King's Armiger is usually no more than ten, even though there are as many Royal Arms as there were Kings of Lucis. Anyway... I would have come back sooner if I could."

"You have nothing to apologize for," Ignis assured him.

"I..." It was clear that Noctis didn't know what to say any more than Ignis did.

The two of them were saved from silence by a quiet little cleared throat. "Would you like more tea, Uncle Noct?"

"I think that would be just the thing," Noct answered, and Ignis couldn't even bring himself to protest as his daughter fiddled with the kettle rather did her dinner chores, setting a pot on to boil.

Ignis soon discovered that the tea was from his own supply, the ulwaat berry leaves, dried and processed into something that was certainly drinkable but had never much been to Ignis's tastes. He was glad Noct liked it, or at least wanted to inhale the scent of ulwaat berries, which was more the purpose Ignis kept it for. A cup of chicory arrived a bit later, Elise announcing its presence, and likely just as his daughter had hoped, good cheer returned and lasted all through dinner.

Promises of fishing trips were made, politics discussed, and it seemed for all the world that things were the same, except when Noct would laugh, or speak, and Ignis thought he would burst from the wonder of having everything in his life he cared for... and Noct.

Ignis found himself in the unfamiliar position of being told to sit down after dinner, with Elise tending to the dishes, as she always did, and Noct taking his customary place as dish dryer.

"What?" Noct asked, voice teasing, and for a moment Ignis thought he was being addressed only for Elise to answer with a laugh. "Hey, I'm the King, and if I say I'm washing the dishes, I'm washing the dishes."

The three of them then passed part of the evening playing cards, before he got the sense of slightly diminishing light... dusk must have been setting in.

"Dad...?"

"Hrm?" He tilted his head towards her, but presented his cards to Noct where the man was fishing, probably for sevens if Ignis's read on the man was correct.

"The light... it's... it's getting dark and..." He heard the fear, and after a few moments he gave up entirely on the game and held out his arms only for Elise to crawl right up into his lap and cling. "You said..."

"That the night no longer holds daemons," he finished, reaching up to find her head and brush her hair with his fingers. "As promised. When I grew up... the sunset was just saying farewell to another day, but the night still held the fear of daemons outside of the city. Now... it just is the sign it is time to sleep, nothing more."

"Are you sure?" She asked, as though she thought Ignis might have been lying, and he hugged her close even as he fought down the urge to chuckle. It might have seemed an unrealistic fear to him, but for her, for a girl who had only known endless night, the idea of it returning after only hours of freedom must have been all too real. "You're not going out hunting?"

"No," he assured her. There was little reason, as much as he might need to fight to keep his form to help Noct, it was not due to daemons any longer.

"Hey." Elise's head turned towards where Noct must have been sitting. "When we were little... your dad and I used to watch the sunset together. We would watch the stars come out and he would tell me the stories that the Gods had written in the sky."

"Stars?"

"You... oh wow... um..." Noct seemed to stumble over his words, faced with the reality of a girl who had never seen the stars. "I... I think it's better if you see it. Is there a way up to the roof or...?"

A few moments of planning and Ignis was able to find a few cushions that would be easy enough to wash, and the three of them headed upstairs, Elise holding onto his hand as Noct tested the door handle, and then helped them find a space to sit. "It's better out of the city," Noct said. "There were some places in Insomnia where you could get away from the light and the sound, but with everyone so crammed together it's hard. We'll be able to see a good bit, though, all the brighter stars."

"Why would anyone want to get away from the light?" Elise asked, full of the plainest youthful confusion.

"It's probably hard to explain."

Ignis sat, patiently, as the heat of the sun slowly started to fade into what must have been the western sky, and he listened as his daughter was awed by the beauty of her very first sunset.

"It's red," she told him. "Um... and lots of orange... and gold... and..."

"I've seen a sunset," he told her, chuckling. "I've seen many. It's far more interesting to hear your excitement than your description."

"It does this _every day_?"

"Yeah, and in the morning there's a sunrise. That was never my bag, but your dad was always up before the sun."

Ignis smiled, and he waited, and after a half-hour or so Elise came to hug his side and he could tell the night must have been closing in, but likely as soon as true night fell, the stars began to come out. The light of the city probably dimmed them, but it would be more than enough on a cloudless night.

"There's so many!"

And Ignis listened through Noct's description of each of the constellations, still remembered from his youth, from when Noct used to abscond with his books and leave far too much scribbling in the margins, but he knew all of the tales, and his daughter listened with rapt attention... until her excitement and fear could no longer keep her awake, and Ignis was gifted with the soft, nasal breathing of his sleeping daughter.

"Well that only took until almost eleven at night," Noctis said with a little laugh.

"Thanks for humoring her."

"Hey... she's a good kid," Noct answered in protest. "Sorry you couldn't exactly... enjoy the show."

"None of that. If it's forgiveness you need, it's yours Noct. I never blamed you."

"You should have."

"Never." No matter how much Noct sometimes frustrated him, Ignis could rarely find it in him to begrudge his king. There were uncharitable moments where he wondered if Noct even understood what being the king meant, but he was always met with little proofs that Noct knew exactly what was required, and exactly how much of a burden the crown was, he was just intent on ignoring it, or feigning ignorance to keep his sadness at bay.

He'd understood far too young that the crown, and the Wall, would strip him of his youth, and eventually his life; he'd lost his mother as a boy, and his closest servant as a youth... "Never."

Noct shifted beside him, and the rustle of fabric drew Ignis's attention enough to note it. "Thanks..."

"Of course. I do sometimes wish..." Ignis hung his head, uncertain if he should burden Noct with the thoughts when he was clearly so raw, but he knew that he could not lie to Noct, or pretend otherwise, he pressed a kiss to the crown of his daughter's head. "I would like to see Elise's face... just once would be enough."

"Yeah..." What could Noct say? Ignis didn't expect any true answer.

"I enjoyed the evening quite enough," he continued, since Noct still seemed uncertain. "Knowing that Elise was in good hands, and hearing her enthusiasm... it's really all I can ask for. I've spent a great many years hoping that she would see this day... and now she has, and it sounds as though it was a great excitement to her."

"You're a damn good dad."

He flushed. "Thank you. I... I did the best I could, under the circumstances."

"I'm sorry about... her mom."

Ignis nodded. He'd heard Noct accidentally stumble over that conversational misstep earlier in the day, thankfully Elise had learned to live with that loss. Having never known her mother was something of a blessing in that respect, as there was only an idea to miss, not a true person. "I find myself sometimes at a loss in that respect," Ignis admitted. "I cannot even tell her if she has her mother's eyes, or her nose..."

"She got your eyes," Noct said, a declaration that startled him into remembering that... he'd just taken it as a given that Noct would know...

"I... I've been told we share a resemblance," Ignis answered. "But it's... Elise is not mine, not in the sense you mean. She's my daughter, but we share no blood."

"Wha--?"

Articulate as always... "I was on an expedition outside of Lestallum, one of my first as it happens, roaming towards the south, searching out safe havens or survivors... It was Telghey, I believe, although I'm not completely certain of that, it may have been only as far as Dainse. The first year or so after your disappearance the days were short, perhaps eight hours at most, and grew dustier and dustier, many lived in ignorance or denial as to the coming plague and chose to continue to live outside of safe havens. I can only assume that Elise's father and mother were two such people. She managed to arrive at the safe haven, in labor, as I tended to my own... wounds from my first time on my own in quite some time."

It hadn't been bad, a twisted ankle from his own idiocy, but he was nursing that wound when he finally limped to the haven and found Elise's mother in labor.

"The Oracle's blessing still protects the Havens, even to this day, and we were safe enough even as the daemons circled about, looking to tear us to pieces..." Ignis shook his head, not liking to remember it, as he was only able to remember the inhuman howls of hunger and rage, not even able to truly identify the source.

"I was competent medic at one time, but only adequate then. I suppose she might have lived had I been more studied, perhaps. She lived long enough to name the child Elise, although I never even was given her own name. I was able to see us home to Lestallum over the course of almost two weeks, traveling only in the hour or so of light that remained to us then."

"Shit," Noct said, likely the most apt punctuation to the story as he could give, and Ignis could hardly blame him.

"She is aware of her origins, in a general sense," Ignis continued. "Although it was a difficult time for her at first... she spent a great deal of time concerned that I cared for her out of duty, and not affection, so it is not often that we discuss that I am both not her blood father and unable to give her the image or information she craves."

"And here I was thinking..." Noct was probably shaking his head, something like that. "Well, I'm glad you didn't have to deal with one more bit of unfairness in the world, losing a woman you loved."

Elise would be the only woman he ever loved, and certainly not in the manner that Noctis was implying. Perhaps he had seen the girl to Lestallum out of duty, that much was true, but when it came time to set the girl down, he found he couldn't. He'd needed a great deal of help at first, largely from Iris, the girl mourning the loss of several of her own younger siblings, but by the time he first had her properly swaddled, he knew he could do nothing but call her his own.

"No," Ignis said, finally coming out of his own revere. "I was quite spared that pain, it seems, by the Grace of the Six."

"Ig..." For a moment he was worried he'd said too much, his memories making his tongue loose, but whatever Noct had been about to say died on his lips. "Uh... I'll take her downstairs, you can get the pillows?"

Ignis agreed readily enough, he could carry his daughter, he knew that well enough, but he was concerned for wayward bumps and bruises in his hands. Noct came over hooking his arm around her back, gently disentangling her from Ignis, and Ignis followed after.

Noct took her to her bedroom, and laid her down, leaving the rest to Ignis. He tugged off her shoes and socks, placing them in their proper place, and decided he could do without the concern for brushed teeth and pajamas just one day, tucking her gently into bed and delivering a soft kiss to her forehead. A sleepy yawn was his reward, and he whispered for her to go to sleep, hearing her shift into her pillow and not wake.

"Noct?" He asked, voice soft.

"Hey." Over by the window, by the sound of things.

He realized why when he arrived, smelling the scent of ulwaat berries, Ignis knew the scent well from crushing a leaf beneath his fingers and letting the scent enter his nose and cleanse his spirit, if only for a moment. A part of him had... just not been able to let go of Noct.

Sometimes he told himself it was duty.

Oftentimes he had known it to be love.

Gladio had certainly hinted at it on more than one occasion, both when they were young men, and long after Zegnautus. Ignis had largely ignored it throughout his life, the feelings were not appropriate for an adviser, and they could never have been acted on, but it had certainly hurt to know he was going to lose his king, either he would lose his life to the Wall, the Niffs, or then the Crystal, or he would lose his presence to a nameless Princess and then to Lady Lunafreya...

"Ignis?" Noct asked.

He startled out of his thoughts again. "Yes?"

"I..." Noct paused. "Why did you grow these ulwaat berries?"

Of all of the things Noct could have asked... Ignis wasn't certain how he somehow managed to hit such a perfect question while not asking that Ignis knew he meant. How could he even answer that. His prince, the man he'd devoted his entire life to, had been taken deep into a crystal slumber. He, Gladio, and Prompto had had to fight tooth and nail to retrieve their comatose prince and see him safely out of Niflheim, allowing him his slumber on Angelgard. The three of them, always a tenuous proposition had all but shattered under the weight of that moment, and Ignis had so little to hold then... almost nothing, but those damn ulwaat berries, bought on the off chance that they might have a quiet moment that Ignis could...

...

See Noct smile.

His sight gone, his prince gone, everything he had strove for gone... and it seemed almost the only thing he could do in that moment, grow a berry bush and pretend he would cook those cakes for him again someday. Ignis turned away from Noct, if he could see it would likely have looked as though he was simply gazing out the window...

"Me too," Noct said, causing Ignis to startle and wonder if he'd said something, if his tongue had betrayed his mind. "No... it's just really stupidly obvious now... how did I not notice a million years ago?"

"You were never supposed to."

"You were just going to drive me off to Altissia to get married and never tell me how you felt?"

"Yes," he answered, because how could he not have? He was sworn to serve Noct and the Crown's best interests, his job was to see that Noct moved forward, and by his own last promise to the king that he would remain at Noct's side.

"I'm glad I didn't know," Noct said, and Ignis couldn't quite stop the immediate hurt the words caused, only for Noct to continue: "I'm not certain I could have... I'm not sure how I would have said goodbye if I knew you felt the same way."

"Probably for the best you didn't, then," Ignis could agree to that, at least, but he wasn't certain he could agree any longer when he felt the presence of Noct just in front of him, and then the touch of a hand at his wrist.

The casual touch didn't remain so for long, when Noct's fingers touched at his shoulder, sliding up his neck and then cupping his hand against Ignis's jaw, his thumb absently sweeping against Ignis's lower lip, and the man felt himself involuntarily lick his lips.

"I... uh..."

Noct, at least, was not suave at all, and Ignis could take some small comfort in that, so he reached up, his own hand mirroring Noct's so he could at least map the path to his mouth. He leaned forward, only for Noct to meet him half way, and the two of them kissed, softly at first, far more tentative than Ignis might have fantasized, but all the sweeter for it. Ignis pulled back before the kiss could deepen much further.

"Woefully, an I love you sealed with a kiss does not banish all ills... If it did, I would have perhaps tried my luck long ago." That was a lie, but it allowed him to gather the space and mental clarity he needed to move forward through the day.

"Buzzkill," Noct complained, immediately, but he chuckled anyway, and leaned in to press his nose to Ignis's throat.

"Be that as it may, it is nearing midnight and I have a very important call with the First Secretary tomorrow," Ignis continued.

Noct pressed a kiss to his neck, but retreated just after. "Fine, I'll let you sleep so you can run my country."

"Don't make me regret offering to share a bed with you."

"Hey, I'm the Chosen King," Noctis protested immediately. "I'm at least two times more mature than I was when I was twenty."

"I'm uncertain I should let you teach my daughter multiplication, if you're unaware of the fact that two times zero is still... _zero_."

"Ouch," Noctis answered, but he slung an arm over Ignis's shoulder anyway. "Alright, alright. I won't be held responsible for sleep snuggling, though."

Ignis chuckled. "And yet for some reason... I very much missed you."


End file.
